Whether it’s your aunt’s kugel or your grandmother’s matzah ball soup,
everyone has a favorite food dish that’s a must-have at their Passover seder.
Following are recipes collected from our temple staff and members of
the Emanu-El family. Enjoy!

5. Meanwhile…Bring 2½ quarts of salted water to a brisk boil. Wet your hands and make eight matzah balls. (Wet hands keep the substance from sticking!) Carefully drop the matzah balls into the pot of boiling water, cover and cook for 30 to 40 minutes.

6. Remove the matzah balls from the water and add to the soup. When ready to serve, simmer the soup for five minutes. (NOTE: Do NOT cook the matzah balls in the soup until you are ready to serve; they will absorb all of your soup.)

Many Sephardic recipes come from different countries. Therefore, each recipe will vary in ingredients, methods of preparation and even the pronunciation of the name. The following recipes are from my family, who originally went from Spain to Salonika, Greece, probably during the Inquisition.

1. Add equal amounts of the raisins and dates at a time to a food processor and pulse.

2. Add the apple, making sure to leave some chunks.

3. Add orange peel and pulse again, adding the orange juice to moisten the mixture. It should look like a smooth, not sticky, paste with bits of apple showing.

4. Use a thick-bottomed sauce pan in which to cook the above mixture on a very low flame; add the honey and half of the water; stir well. Keep checking the liquid and stir so that the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. If it becomes too thick, add the rest of the water a little at a time and stir. Cooking time should be about an hour.

5. When the mixture is done cooking, it should look like a spread. Great on a matzah!

10. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F and bake for 40 minutes, or until slightly puffed and quite firm. Serves four as a main course and up to 10 as a side dish. Delicious cold, sliced thinly to reveal the streaks of cheese among the spinach and herbs.

This kugel is pretty easy and standard but a key part of the seder meal in my family. My cousin and I always would bring the tray to the table and serve us first to ensure that we got corner pieces; we still do in fact.

This recipe was given to me by Rayminnie Friedman (of blessed memory). Rayminnie was a devoted member of Emanu-El and a past president of the Women’s Auxiliary. She was a wonderful cook, and this is the best sponge cake I’ve ever tasted, which is probably attributable to the fact that Rayminnie was a chemist.

2. Beat yolks with 1 cup sugar until they are thick, almost white and ribbon when a little of the batter is allowed to drop back from a spoon.

3. Stir in grated rinds and fruit juice.

4. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt; as they begin to thicken, gradually beat in the remaining ½ cup of sugar. Whites should stand in stiff but glossy peaks. They are perfect when they slide easily in a mass if the bowl is tipped.

5. Sprinkle cake meal, potato starch and ground nuts over whites.

6. Add yolk mixture and fold all together gently but thoroughly with a rubber spatula; no egg white should be showing.

7. Pour into tube pan. (If using a spring form pan, line with damp brown paper.)

8. Bake for 1 to 1¼ hours or until a test in center comes out clean and top of cake springs back when pressed with a finger tip.

Various Latin countries also make bimuelos out of different ingredients.
The following recipe is used for Passover and is served at breakfast or after dinner with a honey syrup. At other times of the year we may use four and yeast.

Ingredients:

2 cups matzah meal
3 cups of water to which is added a pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon sugar and 2 tablespoons canola or corn oil
8 eggs at room temperature and separated
Oil for deep frying

Instructions:

1. Boil the water with the salt, sugar and oil as mentioned above.

2. Cool the water a bit.

3. Pour the matzah meal in a large mixing bowl and add the cooled water a little at a time. The dough will be stiff at first, and as you add the water, it will become easier to mix. Do not let the dough become too liquidy. Cover the bowl and let the mixture cool completely.

4. Separate the eggs; put the whites in another mixing bowl and beat until stiff.

5. When the matzah meal is cool, add the egg yolks one at a time and beat well after each until the mixture is well incorporated.

6. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites;
do not over stir the mixture, should be the consistency of a thick pancake batter.

7. The frying oil should be very hot; use a deep fry pan.

8. Coat a tablespoon with nonstick cooking spray so the batter will drop off the spoon easily; or use two spoons, one for the batter and the other to help it off and into the oil. Flip the Bimuelos over in the oil until golden brown; drain on paper towels. (In our family, the tradition is to give the little bits of batter that collect in the oil to the children as you fry!)

Honey Syrup:

1 cup of honey
½ cup water

Cook honey and water over a low flame until the syrup comes to a boil and is thick, about 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice and cook another 15 minutes. Serve on the side.

1. Put the following ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer: butter, sugar, melted chocolate (room temperature) and orange liqueur.

2. Beat together, adding one egg yolk at a time. Beat, using slow speed, at least 25 minutes (15 minutes if using a KitchenAid mixer).

3. Stop beating and fold in egg whites, which separately have been beaten stiff.

4. Put ¾ of the mixture into a lightly buttered (bottom only) 9-inch spring form pan. Bake in an oven at 325 degrees F for about 30 minutes, or until a straw comes out clean. Cake will sink in the middle.

5. Remove the sides of the spring form pan. When cake is cold, spread remaining batter on top and sprinkle with grated chocolate (1 square).

6. Put in refrigerator uncovered until top is firm; then cover well. Keeps three or four days in refrigerator, or it can be frozen. Serves eight to 10 people.

7. For 12-inch spring form pan, changes all 7s to 11s and cook 35 to 40 minutes.